Dr. Isabelle Farmer is a practicing dentist at Houston SmileDocs in Texas. A graduate of Texas A&M University and the University of Texas Dental School, she went on to start her dental practice in 1984. Here she explains the best ways to treat the common toothache for those with sensitive teeth.
When patients come into the dentist’s office complaining of sensitive teeth, one of the most common causes is due to clenching and grinding of their teeth at night. This is far more common than most people realize, and it can easily cause patients to have sensitive teeth all throughout the day.
Although we have a desensitizing product here at the practice that we can give patients to help with the pain, it is far more common for me to recommend that patients try Sensodyne to help cure their sensitive teeth. As an over-the-counter product, Sensodyne is a relatively low-cost treatment method that patients can buy on their own without a prescription from the dentist. So Sensodyne is always the first thing that we try with patients at our practice who come into the office with pain due to sensitive teeth, since it is the cheapest, quickest remedy available on the market.
Clenching and grinding is a problem with so many patients, that it is usually one of the first things we look into when a patient comes into the office complaining of sensitive teeth. When a person grinds his teeth night after night, that can really be damaging to their teeth and cause a variety of problems both immediately and in the future. Teeth can easily become aggravated due to nighttime issues, and that can easily cause the teeth to become sensitive to factors like hot or cold temperatures, or even sweet foods. Also, any sort of pressure in the mouth is something that their teeth can become quite irritated by when they are functioning during the daytime. And like I said, this is all simply caused by nightly grinding sessions that patients are doing while they are sleeping, often without even realizing what is going on each night.
The percentage of patients with sensitive teeth who also happen to be nighttime grinders and clenchers is quite high. Many people don’t even realize they are doing this at night. So what I usually recommend to those patients is that they wear a nighttime appliance in their mouths to prevent further damage from the clenching and grinding they are doing at night.
I have personal experience with this issue, because I have worn one of these nighttime appliances since I was 21 years old. So, since I personally have been wearing something like this for almost 30 years now, I certainly know a thing or two about it. I’m sure that I have prevented a great deal of sensitivity and other problems with my teeth by wearing a nighttime appliance on a regular basis. So I can confidently recommend the use of an appliance to all my patients who might be clenching and grinding their teeth at night—not only as a way to help prevent sensitive teeth but also as a way to prevent other tooth issues that can be caused by these nighttime episodes.
The information in the article is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your healthcare provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with an appropriate healthcare provider.
